1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates in general to gardening and in particular, to gardening product dispensing systems and methods.
2. Background of Invention
Lawn care is one of the major tasks faced by any gardener or homeowner. Lawns not only typically cover relatively large areas of the landscape but also require consistent attention to maintain their appearance. Periodic mowing, watering, fertiziling, re-seeding and edging are only a few of the tasks the gardener must consistently perform in order to maintain a well-manicured lawn. Depending on such factors as the size of the lawn, the slope on which the lawn in planted, the condition of the grass itself and the weather, lawn maintenance can be a physically demanding and time consuming for even the most dedicated and experienced gardeners.
One particular lawn care task that is normally very inefficient (e.g. time consuming and labor intensive) is the dispersal of dry lawn care products such as dry fertilizers, grass seed, insecticides, and the like. The small hand-cranked, hand-carried dispenser often used by home gardeners typically disperse the given product over a relatively small area of a few square yards. Hence, numerous traversals of the area can become necessary if a large lawn is involved. Additionally, this type of dispenser often does not provide uniform dispersal of product, depending on the consistency the hand cranking and the walking speed and the direction of the gardener. The larger, wheeled (manually pushed) spreaders provide for the dispersal of dry lawn care products on a bulk basis. However, the efficiency of wheeled spreaders is again a function of the consistency action of the gardener, such as the overlap of the gardener's paths across the lawn and the speed of the traversal, over the ground. Maintaining consistent paths and speed can be especially difficult when the spreader is heavy and hard to push. Moreover, the flow of the product through the spreader can at times be impeded as the product forms clods or sticks within the container walls.
Hence, what is needed are new apparatus and methods for efficiently dispersing dry card products. Among other things, such apparatus and methods should reduce the physical strains and time demands on the gardener.